ROPE for Thanksgiving Week

Reveal: In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. – I Peter 1:3b-4a.

Observations: It is the great mercy of a loving God that has led Him to give us new birth—new life. His compassion and love are greater than the expanse of the universe (Psalm 103:11), limitless, beyond measure, accelerating and endlessly expanding. This is the image of His love for us in Ps. 103:11. And He has given us this image too: A man, perfect and sinless and incarnated God Himself, yielded on a lonely hill to crucifixion by cruel men. But this demonstration of his love is not the end but the beginning, as our living hope is through His resurrection after the death He endured for us. Our hope is not in a dead or dying savior; it is through His resurrection after the work on the cross was finished for us, a living hope in a living Savior. We like Him will be resurrected on the day He returns, but already, now, through His resurrection we who place our trust in Him have already received our inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade: eternal life and the promise of forever dwelling with Him in glory.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your finished, once-for-all, complete and fulfilled work on the cross for us. It is You who have done it, You alone who bought our souls and by your selfless, humble act on the cross redeemed them from certain destruction. And You who in victory rose from the dead, now show us that we can have living hope in a living Savior who forever lives to make intercession for us. With You for us, any enemy against us is helpless, their schemes pointless, as long as we cling to You. Help me to cling to You, Lord Jesus, to remember the power of Your work and to glory in Your presence, rather than regressing to those things that in my sin I used to do. My inheritance, bought by You, is waiting for me. May I live worthy of it.

Exercise: Because of His great mercy, He has saved you. Therefore, be His obedient child and live in freedom, never again conforming to the evil things you used to pursue.